Bagar, also Bagad (बागड़) a term meaning the "dry country",Nonica Datta

The Tribune ''The Tribune'' or ''Tribune'' is the name of various newspapers: United States Daily California *''Oakland Tribune'' * ''The Tribune'' (San Luis Obispo) * ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' *''San Gabriel Valley Tribune'' Indiana *''Kokomo Tribune' ...

, 3 July 1999. is a region refers in north-western

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

in north

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

, West

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

, south west

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

, India where the

Bagri language The Bagri language is a dialect of Rajasthani that takes its name from the Bagar tract region of Northwestern India in the states of Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana. Bagri is a typical Indo-Aryan language akin to Rajasthani and Haryanvi with ...

is spoken and which is inhabited by Bagri people. The region is characterised by sandy tracks and shifting sand dunes which are now irrigated by canals.

Etymology

Bagar means the

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

(grazing shrubs and grassland) of northern

Rajputana Rājputana (), meaning Land of the Rajputs, was a region in the Indian subcontinent that included mainly the entire present-day States of India, Indian state of Rajasthan, parts of the neighboring states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, and adjo ...

,Elaine King,1998, Tales & legends of India, Page 61. which likely comes from

eponymous An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

Arabic word "baqar" or "bagar" (بقرة) meaning "cow" ( sacred to Hindus),2002, Abubakar Garba, "State, city and society: processes of urbanisation", University of Maiduguri – Centre for Trans Saharan Studies, Archaeological Association of Nigeria, Page 82. derived from the Arabic word "cattle".Mohamet Lawan, 1997, No travel is little, Page 66. ''

Baggara The Baggāra ( "heifer herder"), also known as Chadian Arabs, are a nomadic confederation of people of mixed Arab and Arabized indigenous African ancestry, inhabiting a portion of the Sahel mainly between Lake Chad and the Nile river near sou ...

'' in Arabic means "cattle herders".Deepak Kumar Behera,

Georg Pfeffer Georg Pfeffer (17 January 1943 — 20 May 2020) was a German anthropologist. Born in 1943 in Berlin to a German sociologist father and a British mother, he was schooled in Hamburg. In 1959, he moved to Lahore with his family, and studied at the c ...

, 2002, The concept of tribal society, Page 284.Jemera Rone, Brian Owsley, Human Rights Watch/Africa, 1996, Behind the Red Line: Political Repression in Sudan, Page 274. Bagar tract refers to the

semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a aridity, dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below Evapotranspiration#Potential evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, but not as l ...

semi-fertile rain-fed sandy shrubby grassland tract at the confluence of

arid Aridity is the condition of geographical regions which make up approximately 43% of total global available land area, characterized by low annual precipitation, increased temperatures, and limited water availability.Perez-Aguilar, L. Y., Plata ...

Thar Desert The Thar Desert (), also known as the Great Indian Desert, is an arid region in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent that covers an area of in India and Pakistan. It is the world's 18th-largest desert, and the world's 9th-large ...

and fertile bangar and khadir areas of

Indo-Gangetic Plain The Indo-Gangetic Plain, also known as the Northern Plain or North Indian River Plain, is a fertile plain spanning across the northern and north-eastern part of the Indian subcontinent. It encompasses North India, northern and East India, easte ...

, which as historically inhabited by the cattle herders who remained semi-nomadic until they began to adapt to settled life in the mid to late Medieval Period. Before the adoption of the Arabic name bagar, the area was earlier known as

Jangladesh Jangladesh (जांगलदेश) , also known as Janglu (जांगलू), was a historical region in north, north-western and north-eastern Rajasthan state in northern India ruled by Jats. There were various Jat principalities-states. ...

during the

Vedic era The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, between the e ...

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

and even in early medieval times at least until the end of Hindu reign of

Prithviraj Chauhan Prithviraja III (IAST: Pṛthvī-rāja; 22 May 1166 – February 1192), popularly known as Prithviraj Chauhan or Rai Pithora, was a king from the Chahamanas of Shakambhari, Chauhan (Chahamana) dynasty who ruled the territory of Sapadalaksha, w ...

Bagar tracts

Bagar (Hindi: बागड़) region is characterised by Bagar tracts which are long strips of shifting sand dunes called ''tibba'' (टिब्बा) and relatively semi-fertile lands and the area between them is called ''lal'' (लाळ) in northern districts of

and along the northwestern districts of

Geography

The Bagar region has potentially very fertile

alluvial soil Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

interspersed with highly

permeable Permeability, permeable, and semipermeable may refer to: Chemistry *Drug permeability *Semipermeable membrane, a membrane which will allow certain molecules or ions to pass through it by diffusion *Vascular permeability, the movement of fluids a ...

very sandy tracts in several places with

water table The water table is the upper surface of the phreatic zone or zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with groundwater, which may be fresh, saline, or brackish, depending on the loc ...

more than 100 feet below ground containing

brackish water Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuary ...

usually unfit for human consumption, where

dust storm A dust storm, also called a sandstorm, is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Fine particles are transpo ...

s frequent during the warm summer months from April till the end of July when

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

arrives. Previously, the drinking water availability in the Bagar tract was solely based on the rain & wells and irrigation was possible only in the small areas of Ghaggar basin of Bagar region in districts of Fatehabad, Sirsa, Hanumangarh, Sri Ganganagar and Anupgarh where the seasonal

Ghaggar river The Ghaggar-Hakra River () is an intermittent river in India and Pakistan that flows only during the monsoon season. The river is known as Ghaggar before the Ottu barrage at , and as Hakra downstream of the barrage in the Thar Desert. In pre- ...

flows. Earlier

Western Yamuna Canal Western Yamuna Canal is canal in river Yamuna that was dug out and renovated in 1335 CE by Firoz Shah Tughlaq. In 1750 CE, excessive silting caused it to stop flowing. The British raj undertook a three-year renovation in 1817 by Captain GR Bla ...

and after 1963

Bhakra Nangal Dam Bhakra Nangal Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Satluj River in Bhakra Village in Bilaspur district, Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The dam forms the Gobind Sagar reservoir. Nangal Dam is another dam at Nangal in Punjab downstream of ...

canal system provides the water for irrigation in most of Haryana including all of the Bagar region falling in Haryana on its western border. The

Ganga canal The Ganges Canal or Ganga Canal is a canal system that irrigates the Doab region between the Ganges River and the Yamuna River in India. The canal is primarily an irrigation canal, although parts of it were also used for navigation, primaril ...

in 1927 and in 1984

Indira Gandhi Canal The Indira Gandhi Canal (originally, Rajasthan Canal) project, with total length of to depending on how the length is calculated which either way includes the length of the Rajasthan Feeder Canal and the downstream length of main Indira Gan ...

irrigation also known as Rajasthan Canal brought the water of

Sutlej The Sutlej River or the Satluj River is a major river in Asia, flowing through China, India and Pakistan, and is the longest of the five major rivers of the Punjab region. It is also known as ''Satadru''; and is the easternmost tributary of t ...

and Beas rivers to the fields of Rajasthan including its Bagar tract, stabilizing the sand dunes and soil erosion by preventing the expansion of desert.E. Walter Coward, 1980
"Irrigation and Agricultural Development in Asia: Perspectives from the social sciences"

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

press, page 302, . Geographically, the Bagar region lies between the: * Malwa, Punjab to the north, *The Shekhawati region and the

Marwar Marwar (also called Jodhpur region) is a region of western Rajasthan state in North Western India. It lies partly in the Thar Desert. 'Maru' is a Sanskrit word for desert. The word 'wad' literally means fence in Rajasthani languages. Engl ...

region of Rajasthan to the south. *The Aravali Range to the southeast in the

Charkhi Dadri Charkhi Dadri is a city and the headquarters of Charkhi Dadri district in the Indian state of Haryana, about 90 km from the national capital Delhi. The town was made by joining the villages of Charkhi and Dadri after urban development. Ch ...

district &

Tosham Tosham is a town and a Gram Panchayat on the foot of Tosham Hill range in Bhiwani district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Haryana. It has been awarded the title of "Adarsh Village". It is situated in the foothill of Tosha ...

tehsil of

Bhiwani district Bhiwani district is one of the 22 Districts of Haryana, districts of the northern Indian state of Haryana. Created on 22 December 1972, it was the largest district of the state by area, before the creation of Charkhi Dadri district, Charkhi Dadr ...

, *

Ahirwal Ahirwal is a region spanning parts of southern Haryana, north-eastern Rajasthan, and South-Western Delhi The region was once a small principality based from the town of Rewari and controlled by members of the Ahir community from around the time ...

region of Haryana also in the southeast. *The eastern border in bounded to the Haryanavi speaking region of haryana. *In the west of Bagar region lies the Rohi(रोई)/

Cholistan desert The Cholistan Desert (; ; Saraiki: ), also locally known as Rohi (), is a desert in the southern part of Pakistani Punjab that forms part of the Greater Thar Desert, which extends to Sindh province and the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is one of ...

Punjab (Pakistan) Punjab (, ) is a province of Pakistan. With a population of over 127 million, it is the most populous province in Pakistan and the second most populous subnational polity in the world. Located in the central-eastern region of the country, i ...

with a few Bagri speakers in the Bahawalpur district &

Bahawalnagar district Bahawalnagar District (Urdu and ), is a Districts of Pakistan, district of Punjab (Pakistan), Punjab province in Pakistan. Before the independence of Pakistan, Bahawalnagar was part of Bahawalpur (princely state), Bahawalpur state governed by t ...

Bagri language

Bagri (बागड़ी), a

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

of overlapping

Rajasthani language The Rajasthani languages are a group of Western Indo-Aryan languages, primarily spoken in Rajasthan and Malwa, and adjacent areas of Haryana, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in India and South Punjab and the adjacent areas of Sindh in Pakistan. T ...

Haryanvi language Haryanvi (हरियाणवी or हरयाणवी) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken primarily in the Indian state of Haryana and the territory of Delhi. Haryanvi is considered to be part of the dialect group of Western Hindi, which a ...

and

Punjabi language Punjabi, sometimes spelled Panjabi, is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language native to the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It is one of the most widely spoken native languages in the world, with approximately 150 million native sp ...

of the Indo-Aryan family, is spoken by about five million speakers residing in Bagar region of

and

states in India.

Politics of Bagar Region (Constituencies and MLA)

There are 40 Constituencies of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan legislative assemblies where the Bagri language is spoken by majority of the population. * In Punjab, there 4 constituencies of Fazilka and Sri Muktsar Sahib in South Punjab where Bagri speakers decide the fate of elections. Out of 4 constituencies only 1 constituency is reserved for SC candidate. * In Haryana, there are 15 constituencies in north west haryana which comes under the Bagar region out of which 2 constituencies are reserved for SC candidates. * In Rajasthan, there are 21 constituencies of

Rajasthan Legislative Assembly The Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, also known as the Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha, is the unicameral legislature of the state of Rajasthan. It is a vital part of the state government, responsible for making and implementing laws. The assembly meets ...

which comes under the Bagar region in North Rajasthan. Meanwhile, 4 constituencies out of 21 constituencies are reserved for SC candidates.

Rajasthan

Following is the list of the constituencies and the candidates from Bhartiya Janata Party, Congress party and the Independent candidates appeared in

2023 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in Rajasthan on 2023 elections in India, 25 November 2023 to elect List of constituencies of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, 199 of the 200 members of Rajasthan Legislative Assembly. The results were ...

from the Bagri speaking region of Rajasthan.

Haryana

Following is the list of constituencies and Members of Legislative Assembly from the Bagri speaking region of North Western Haryana.

Punjab

Following is the list of constituencies and MLA in the

Punjab Legislative Assembly The Punjab Legislative Assembly or the Punjab Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the state of Punjab (India), Punjab in India. The Sixteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly was constituted in March 2022. At present, it consists of 117 M ...

from

Fazilka district Fazilka district is one of 23 districts in the state of Punjab in India. The district headquarters of the Fazilka District are at Fazilka. History On 27 July 2011, the Government of Punjab created two new districts: Fazilka district by the ...

and southern part of

Sri Muktsar Sahib district Sri Muktsar Sahib district is one of the 23 districts in the Indian state of Punjab. The capital city of district is Sri Muktsar Sahib. The district itself was historically referred to as Khidrane Di Dhaab. There are four tehsils in the district ...

with the significant presence of Bagri Speakers in South Punjab, India.

Gallery

India - Haryana - Sirsa.svg,

Sirsa district Sirsa district is the largest district by area in Haryana state, India. Sirsa is the district headquarters. It is located on National Highway 9 and from the capital Delhi. On 1 September 1975, Sirsa became a district by taking Sirsa and Dabw ...

India - Haryana - Fatehabad.svg,

Fatehabad district Fatehabad district is one of the twenty two districts of the state of Haryana, India. Fatehabad was founded by Firuz Shah Tughlaq. Fatehabad district was carved out of Hisar district on 15 July 1997. It borders districts of Mansa and S ...

India - Haryana - Hisar.svg,

Hisar district Hisar district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana, India. Hisar city serves as the district headquarters. Hisar district has four sub-divisions that is, Hisar, Barwala, Hansi and Narnaud, each headed by an SDM. The district is also part of ...

India - Haryana - Bhiwani.svg,

India - Haryana - Charkhi Dadri.svg,

Charkhi Dadri district Charkhi Dadri District is one of the 22 districts of Haryana state in north west India near Rajasthan border, but not sharing border with Rajasthan. Created on 1 December 2016, the district headquarters is the city of Charkhi Dadri. History ...

2025 Rajasthan State New 41 District Map.jpg, Bagar tract through

Ganganagar district Sri Ganganagar district is the northernmost district of Rajasthan state of India. History Named after Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner, Sri Ganganagar district was part of Bikaner state. This was a mostly uninhabited region. The history of ...

Anupgarh district Anupgarh district was a new north-west district of Rajasthan States and territories of India, state in India. It was established on 5 August 2023 after carving it out of Sri Ganganagar District. It was re-merged in Sri Ganganagar District with ...

, Hanumangarh district,

Churu district Churu is a district of the northern Indian state of Rajasthan. Churu lies in the Sekhawati region of northern Rajasthan and shares boundaries with the Hanumangarh District to the north, the Haryana state to the east, the Jhunjhunu and Sikar ...

and Bikaner district in

Punjab district map.png, Bagar tract through

and southern villages of

Muktsar district Sri Muktsar Sahib district is one of the 23 districts in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab. The capital city of district is Sri Muktsar Sahib. The district itself was historically referred to as Khidrane Di Dhaab. There are four tehsils ...

Punjab (India) Punjab () is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab, Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the States and union territories of India, Indian states ...

Pakistan Punjab.png, Bagri as minor language is spoken in

Bahawalpur Bahawalpur (Urdu: ; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 13th largest city of Pakistan and List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, 8th most populous city of Punjab. Bahawalpur is the capital of Bahawalpur Division. Founded in ...

and

Punjab, Pakistan Punjab (, ) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. With a population of over 127 million, it is the Demographics of Pakistan, most populous province in Pakistan and the List of first-level administrative divisions by popu ...

, though not considered parts of Bagar tract.

References

{{Historical regions of North India Tracts Regions of Haryana Regions of Punjab, India Regions of Rajasthan Surnames of Indian origin